Mechanical fasteners, such as pins, rivets, bolts and the like, have long been used to connect one member to one or more other members. In a typical example, a first bore formed in a first member is aligned with a second bore formed in a second member. Then, a mechanical fastener (e.g., a pin) is inserted through both bores, thereby inhibiting displacement of the first member relative to the second member. A securement feature, such as a nut or a cotter pin, may engage the mechanical fastener to inhibit unintentional removal of the mechanical fastener from the bores.
Various aircraft components are connected together with mechanical fasteners. For example, the wings of an aircraft may be secured to the fuselage with mechanical fasteners, such as bolts. Unfortunately, as the size of the components being connected together increases, it often becomes more difficult, time-consuming and expensive to align the bores that will receive the mechanical fasteners.
Tapered alignment pins have been used to align bores prior to insertion of a mechanical fastener. Specifically, tapered alignment pins are thrust (e.g., hammered), often with relatively high force, into misaligned bores to effect alignment. However, the thrusting process can be time consuming and can wear off the surface finish on the components being connected together.
Accordingly, those skilled in the art continue with research and development efforts in the field of bore alignment.